The Johnson Four

The animated if jumbled adult debut by Hamm (author of the YA novel The Black Kids) traces the shifting fortunes of a 1960s singing group. Talented brothers Roman, Rocco, and River perform as The Johnson Three. After a promising but unsuccessful audition in Detroit, they come home with a stowaway they found on the side of the road, the ghost of a lynched vaudeville performer whom Reed describes as “pickaninny prodigy Christmas Jones the Third.” Christmas uses his hanging rope as a neck brace, and his body is burned and wrecked, but he becomes part of the group thanks to his vocal chops. Their father uproots the family to California to pursue their recording career, but a violent act by the ghost dooms the group’s chance at fame. Heartthrob River goes solo and becomes a megastar, making fans swoon with a dance move he picked up from Christmas, but the others founder. Roman enlists in the Army and fights in Vietnam, while Rocco, who is neurodivergent, is institutionalized against his will. The story becomes increasingly hard to follow as it stretches into the 1990s, with myriad continuity problems, but Reed pulls at the reader’s heartstrings with her depictions of the characters’ early promise and misfortune. It’s a mixed bag. (Feb.)